news 2024

A recent study conducted on melon plants has revealed a defense mechanism that certain plants activate to deal with insect pests. It is a system of signaling molecules that, distributed through extracellular vesicles - including exosomes - allow plants to adapt their defenses according to the level of stress they are under.

Researchers describe the relationship between facial morphology and cerebral cortex measurements in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder A study published in Psychiatry Research identifies subtle differences in facial shapes that may be linked to the diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

There are still many unknowns about the causes leading to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) shift - a critical climate phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere - to the east and west of Iceland. To date, some hypotheses suggested that this process known to the international scientific community might be related to the impact of greenhouse gases on the planet.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and CSIC have developed an innovative technique that combines ion implantation and femtosecond lasers to create advanced optical nanocomposites. The work, published in Materials Today Nano , lays the groundwork for a new generation of customizable materials with applications in optics, sensors and photonics.

A Spanish team led from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) has observed the formation of a new quantum state in ultrathin materials by cooling a Mott insulator below 11 Kelvin. This finding, published in Nature Communications , could revolutionize the development of superconductors and next-generation electronic devices, marking a milestone in materials science.

Scientists from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), together with a research team from Ericsson and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, have developed an artificial intelligence-based software programme that can search for information and make recommendations for biomedical image analysis.

Chimpanzees are the animals with the most complex memory, apart from humans. They remember where and when ripe fruits are available, and use this information to decide which trees they will visit and even where they will sleep to eat these fruits first thing in the morning. However, the cognitive strategies they use to find foods of animal origin rather than plant origin are not yet well understood.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) have discovered that R-Ras1 and R-Ras2 proteins regulate the diversity of subpopulations of oligodendrocytes, the cells responsible for producing myelin in the central nervous system. This finding, published in Glia , could lay the foundations for new regenerative therapies for diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Called Real Influence Researchers from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), Universidad de León (ULE) and São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil have developed an indicator which is more robust, clear and fair than 'impact factor', which has been widely used for decades to evaluate academic and scientific journals.

One of the most fascinating periods in the evolution of the human lineage is the appearance of the first ancestors capable of bipedalism. Knowing the type of locomotion used by many fossil species - walking upright on the ground or climbing from branch to branch with the strength of their arms - has been one of the most classic questions in the study of the process of hominization.

Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) have revealed that pipolins, mobile genetic elements present in bacteria, contain numerous defense systems against bacteriophages. The study, published in Nucleic Acids Research , analyzed more than 11,000 pipolins in bacterial genomes, identifying their crucial role in the genetic evolution of bacteria.

News Researchers analyze the directional peak-antenna-like behavior of tunnel junctions formed by surface defects at the atomic scale The profile of light collected with tunneling microscopes changes when the tip is placed on an atomic step. This phenomenon can be exploited to build picoantennas, nanoscale elements that direct light.

A team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital has proposed a map of competencies to optimize the care of patients with rare diseases, a group that faces a great lack of treatment and inequalities in care.

A study published in "Scientific Reports", in which the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) participates, shows that our quick impressions based on pictures of faces barely overcome chance when assessing a person's willingness to cooperate. Although intuition seems to play a role in identifying cooperators, the results suggest that the cues visible in static images are not sufficient to accurately predict cooperative behaviors.

A research project led by the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE, UV-CSIC-GVA) has successfully predicted the ecological interactions that occur in little-analysed plant communities based on coexistence patterns from a well-studied ecosystem in Alicante. The study employed transfer learning, a machine learning technique that introduces a new approach to biodiversity research and conservation.

US researchers have participated in a study that reveals how alterations in brain development in psychosis may be related to metabolism and neurotransmitters. Researchers from the University of Seville have participated, together with representatives from other Spanish, British, American and Canadian research centers, in a recent scientific study that has identified important anomalies in the brain maturation of individuals with psychosis.

A study led by the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) reveals that repositioning the drug dimethyl fumarate reduces neuronal degeneration in a mouse model of TDP-43-dependent frontotemporal dementia. The finding opens the possibility of reusing an already approved drug to treat a neurodegenerative disease without a cure, potentially accelerating the development of new therapies for dementia patients.

Researchers from the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC, UV-CSIC) achieve to measure at the laboratory the formation of a key element in the evolution of chemical make-up of the heavy elements. An isotope of this element, Lead-204, is produced in giant red stars, responsible for the creation of half of the elements which are heavier than iron in nature.

A team of researchers from the Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (IFISC, UIB-CSIC), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), has experimentally demonstrated that indirect connections in a social network have a significant impact on the adoption of innovations.

Scientists from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) have created an early warning system based on artificial intelligence to predict massive outbreaks of cyanobacteria in fresh waters. Using machine learning and deep learning models, the system could help protect aquatic ecosystems and improve water management.